All of the people who are joining recently, I suggest you read this little piece of advice before starting a Board RP, so that your RP, which may have been planned beforehand (or maybe not), will not be thrown into the RP Graveyard, which I can imagine is not a nice thing to have done to your RP.

Note that you may have done some of these. In which case, ignore them. No need to learn what you already know.

1) Plan well.

An RP is a story where there is more that just one writer. It's not a blindless scene where people fight to the death. It's supposed to be REALISTIC. You do NOT fight random people in the street in real life. Why should you in this fantasy setting? After all, with mages and warriors and all the wierd stuff, you don't know what's in for you. But that is another thing altogether. Fighting is not bad, albeit only when there is a reason for fighting.

Also, don't think people will RP just to be in an RP. You will not join any random person in real life just for "adventure", therefore, as realism is of the uttermost importance, do not expect the others' characters to do so.

2) Writing

This is far more important than it would seem. I have seen a lot of different types of writing, and personally would like to comment on it. Writing is very important as anyone who would join the RP would have to READ your initial post, as well as anyone who is just reading it for the pleasure.

Firstly, pronounciation, grammar etc. Watch out for this as this is important to anyone reading it. Secondly, the style of writing is very important. Sure, writing in short would save time, but I don't like reading such things personally, nor RP with such prospects.

An example:

Gibz ran to the man "u killed my father now you die" he took out his sword and charged.

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This would deter anyone who would be reading it. Personally, and I know anyone would agree, would prefer something to this effect:

From the side, Gibz saw the man, the man that had destroyed the thing he held most dear in life. As he saw the dark figure in between the bloody ongoing battle, anger swept over him like darkness after sunset. The only thing that passed through his mind was getting revenge. He had killed his father right before his eyes, and letting him go would be failing his father and himself.

He ran towards the figure, which wordlessly turned to face him, and yelled out

"You'll pay for what you did to my father! I'll never forgive you!!!" , drawing his sword and running in a blind charge towards the enemy, hatred consuming him and blurring all sense of reason.
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I think some of this has already been covered on the OOC thread (where this should really be, btw.), in my opinion it can never be stressed enough times.

I'll let Dai cover the obvious ones, and gives some examples of other pointers of my own.

1: Be creative. I can never stress this enough. While I know that I often fall victim to monotony in my posts, it is something I try to avoid. Be creative in your writing - make your posts colourful. Be creative in your world building (if in a unique world) - make it unique to yourself. Be creative in the design of your adventure - make it a great experience for both your players and yourself.

2: Be prepared to take control. A problem I often see is RPs becoming anarchic due to a number of factors - powergaming, too many players...and often this stems from lack of control on the GM's part. Even if the RP is freestyleyou should always be prepared to step in if things get out of hand.

5(2b): Be relentless...but only IF. The IF in question is if a player is ruining your game, for whatever reason. Don't be afraid to do what you have to to stop this from happening.

4(2c): Be just, but fair. If a player makes a character do something incredibly stupid, punish them, but be fair in your punishments. Try and match the punishment to the level of stupidity displayed by the player. Also, treat all players and their characters fairly and equally.

I hope Dai doesn't mind me adding this. If not, like him I'll be sure to add anything I think of.